Does anyone know of a cheap Mini DV "Progressive Scan" Camera in Canada? Any models or stores inparticular?

Cheers bros and bro-ette's :beer:

jussing

01 January 2003, 07:18 AM

Hi there!

I don't live in Canada, so I can't be really helpful - but I'll say this:

TEST the progressive scan function before you buy! I did an amateur short once, and we triple-checked that the camera had progressive scan...

But oh my, what a progressive scan... Normal PAL (I'm from Europe) is 25 full frames or 50 half frames per second, so you'd think when a camera normally shooting 50 half framers per second was set to progressive scan, it'd shoot 25 full frames per second, right? NOPE! It was doing 12,5 frames per second!! :surprised ... completely, absolutely useless.

I swear, it doesn't make sense... and worse of all, I found out this is how most of the cheap DV-cameras behave. :thumbsdow

So before you buy: triple-check the frame-rate in progressive scan mode!

Good luck,
- jonas

Douglask

01 January 2003, 07:35 AM

Wowzers! Thanks for the low-down! I'll definately Tripple check if I find one Around this neck of the woods! I heard that companies such as Sony. Canon and JVC have taken "or are taking" away the progressive scan feature in most of their consumer cameras because a majority of the general public are saying they have "little to no use for it."--Thus most of the newer consumer cameras are labled with a "progressive shutter" entitling only Single frame photos. Eeks, this is no good! lol

Cheers! :beer:

alphatron

01 January 2003, 10:15 AM

Hey there,

There is currently ONLY ONE actual progressive scan miniDV camera on the market right now. It's the Panasonic AG-DVX100. The rest fake it, and there is a HUMUNGOUS difference. The DVX100 is the only one with actual progressive scan CCD's. It can do 24p and 30p, as well as 60i. It allows you to edit on any NLE because it performs the 3:2 pulldown on the footage in-camera, and if you want to go back out to film later you just remove the pulldown.

Are you looking to rent or buy? Currently there are only 2 places that rent the DVX100, while there are a few that sell it. www.dvshop.ca is one.

Of course I didn't mention progressive scan HDcams such as the Sony F900 or Panasonic HDC27, but those are pretty tough to rent in Toronto right now anyways.

I'm actually renting the DVX100 on friday for a week for a film shoot, I can tell you what I think afterwards.

Hope that was helpful!

jussing

01 January 2003, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by alphatron
There is currently ONLY ONE actual progressive scan miniDV camera on the market right now. It's the Panasonic AG-DVX100.

Are you sure? What about the Canon XL1 (http://www.canondv.com/xl1s/index.html) for instance?

I must admit I have no experience with the camera whatsoever, it's just so pricey that I expected it to be "real" progressive, and not "fake"... :shrug:

Cheers,
- Jonas

alphatron

01 January 2003, 11:31 AM

Yup, the XL1 fakes it.

It does so by shifting the green CCD scanning one scanline down, leaving the color components where they are and then deriving the remaining information from there. You actually lose a few lines of resolution in the process.

jussing

01 January 2003, 11:39 AM

OMG!!! :surprised

Thanks for that info! :thumbsup:

Please post your experience with the DVX100 here, then, as I'm also very interested in hearing your experience... ;)

Cheers,
- Jonas

jussing

01 January 2003, 07:03 PM

Yo, found a good article here (http://www.24p.com/AGDVX100.htm) on that pull-down thing you mentioned. Also has som EXCELLENT screencaps from the DVX100.

- J

Douglask

01 January 2003, 11:16 PM

holy cow, well I've talked to a few places about renting in the area and the prices are INSANE! I'm thinking I can just buy myself a quality "interlaced" camcorder at about $1500 Canadian for some tracking shots. Any suggestions?

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